Co-op Featuring Sustainable West Creek Coho Salmon

CANADA - West Creek Aquaculture and Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL)are partnering to bring more sustainably raised seafood to Western Canadian shoppers.

West Creek Pacific Coho Salmon, recommended by Ocean Wise and SeaChoice as a best choice for sustainability, is now available in all 170 Co-op Food Stores.

West Creek is also distributing its Coho Salmon through The Grocery People, a wholly owned subsidiary of FCL that supplies independent grocery stores across Western Canada.

“We’re the only company in Canada producing Coho salmon on land for customers,” said Don Read, president of Willowfield Enterprises.

West Creek Aquaculture, a division of Willowfield Enterprises Ltd., farms its Pacific Coho in closed containment facilities in Vancouver’s lower mainland. The salmon are raised in fresh water without the use of antibiotics, chemicals or growth hormones.

Without the risk of escapement, they pose no risk to wild populations of fish, while a recirculating aquaculture system reduces the demand on ground water.

West Creek already delivered the world’s first sockeye salmon grown on land in 2013.

“This partnership will help us expand on that success through our Reel in the Solution program, which provides Co-op shoppers with the most sustainable seafood available.”

Co-op continues to respond to customers’ need for sustainable seafood options by working with suppliers such as West Creek Aquaculture and SeaChoice, a consortium of Canadian conservation organizations that assess the environmental sustainability of seafood products. S

eaChoice ranks and labels seafood products based on how they are caught or farmed. Co-op adopted the SeaChoice ranking system in 2012 and has increased the amount of sustainably raised seafood in its food stores since then.

“It’s an exciting time to see that consumer demand has helped to create a market for these innovative solutions that are addressing big problems,” said Lana Gunnlaugson of SeaChoice.